Nerve Root Replantation

Traumatic avulsion of nerve roots from the spinal cord is a devastating event that usually occurs in the brachial plexus of young adults following motor vehicle or sports accidents or in newborn children during difficult childbirth. A strategy to restore motor function in the affected arm by reimplanting into the spinal cord the avulsed ventral roots or autologous nerve grafts connected distally to the avulsed roots has been developed. Surgical outcome is good and useful recovery in shoulder and proximal arm muscles occurs. Pain is alleviated with motor recovery but sensory improvement is poor when only motor conduits have been reconstructed. In experimental studies, restoration of sensory connections with general improvement in the outcome from this surgery is pursued.